The new G-Watch launches its first book and logo

Within one year since its official spin-off into an independent national action-research organization, G-Watch soft-launched its first full book, and its new logo to go with its rebranding efforts. The said unveiling was made on May 24 in the presence of leaders of G-Watch local sites, civil society and government partners, and its Advisory Board, who were gathered in Cebu City for the 2018 National Meeting and Learning Exchange.

G-Watch Convenor-Director and book editor, Joy Aceron, relayed the importance of putting together a literature on vertical integration as civil society in the Philippines grapples with the challenges of a sustained citizen action for accountability under a new political order.

The book, Going Vertical: Citizen-led Reform Campaigns in the Philippines, is a result of action-research collaboration between Government Watch (G-Watch) and the Accountability Research Center (ARC) on multi-level citizen action for accountability. The book investigates how one strategic approach to citizen accountability - vertical integration - enabled seven reform initiatives in the Philippines to gain meaningful results. The reform campaigns presented in the book are the following: mobilizing citizens for transparency and accountability in education through Textbook Count; campaigning for agrarian reform in the Bondoc Peninsula; empowering communities for housing and community services; intensifying the anti-mining campaign; campaigning for the rights of Indigenous Peoples; advancing reproductive health rights; and building disaster resilient communities.

The book is an expanded version of a research report published in December 2016, supported by a grant from Making All Voices Count (MAVC). The research was conducted in 2015 and 2016 by a team of researchers from the Philippines through the G-Watch Program that was then housed in the Ateneo School of Government, in partnership with the Accountability Research Center at American University, Washington DC, USA, and the Institute of Development Studies, UK.

The new logo also unveiled during the same event presents G-Watch’s new direction as an action-research group. The unusual arrow, showing action, is taken from a portion of the uppercase letter “G” to mean a spotlight on government, or the G in G-Watch – for monitoring and accountability. This is not readily visible, and can be seen only when tilted -which stands for varied perspectives on one issue, which G-Watch hopes to put together in synergy, recognizing contradictions and contestations, or tensions and conflict, but with active unity.

The arrow’s direction goes from the ground up, symbolizing direction-setting, and being hopeful and positive despite the difficulties in citizen action for accountability. It also symbolizes research/ knowledge that is grounded.